Village life pivots around women. And – at the same time – they are often pushed to sidelines, quietened, ignored. Here we look at how and why that happens, and champion those working to change it. We would also feature LGBTQ individuals and communities who are all too often overlooked in rural India.
Gender
Women are leading the sanitation campaign in Bihar villages
Although Bihar has been a laggard in implementing the Swachh Bharat program, there is heartening progress in places such as Rohtas, Sitamarhi and Khagaria, where women are driving the change for health and sanitation
Women in Guphu show power of collective action
Collective action has enabled many women in Khunti in Jharkhand to rise out of poverty, providing them with new opportunities and ensuring greater choice in their lives
Gorang Valley battles water woes as perennial springs retreat
Drying streams in this region of Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand have made life difficult for women as they wait for efforts at watershed management to bear fruit in a couple of years
Women in villages pay a heavy price for working away from home
The knotty issues around rural women’s migration for employment that often stigmatise and disempower them in their communities have to be urgently addressed for a gender-inclusive economic growth
Kuthambakkam charts a course to prosperity through community action
Kuthambakkam village in Tamil Nadu has overcome caste hostility and poverty to emerge as a national model of participatory governance that has boosted the village economy
Girls in Palghar are breaking entrenched stereotypes to continue their education
A walk of 7 km everyday across hilly terrain and fast streams, no food for the entire day, the additional burden of household chores — a few girls in the Western Ghats are fighting all odds to complete their education